Lost Friends
by rippedjeans
Summary: Casey had no idea what she was getting into when she asked Derek about a simple picture. oneshot


**A/N: This is my first LWD story. The idea just kind of popped into my head the other day, so for all I know it totally sucks. Anyways, this is probably going to be just a one-shot. There is some stuff you should probably know or you might get a tad confused. I guess this story is kind of AU. Everything is basically the same as on the show. The story takes place about 6 months since Nora and George have married. Casey and Emily are best friends like on the show. Casey and Sam are not dating and this is not a DASEY. Emily is not crushing on Derek. They are merely neighbors. They are not really even friends but not enemies. Ok I guess that is all you need to know. I hope you enjoy! Oh, and it's rated T for a little foul language.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own **_**Life With Derek**_** or any of the characters. **

"Casey! Derek! Can't either of you just get along for one day? Not even one day, just one hour?" Nora yelled. She was fed up with the way her daughter and step-son continued to argue and fight.

It had been six months since the MacDonalds had moved into the Venturi home. Nora and George knew it would be difficult and testy at first, but they figured everyone would eventually learn to live with it and move on. All the other children were coping fine, it seemed that it was just the two oldest that were still having problems.

"Not likely." Derek smirked and was met with a glare from Casey.

"Mom! How can you expect me to get along with him? He is a horrible, disgusting, disrespectful pig!" Casey screamed in her typical overdramatic way.

Derek simply let out a hearty laugh at her accusations. What she thought of him really didn't faze him in the least.

"You done?" A grinning Derek asked an out-of-breath Casey after her small temper tantrum. Casey let out a groan of frustration.

"Enough!" Nora cut in before Casey could go off again. "I'm sick of you two fighting all the time. Am I going to have to separate the two of you, and put you in timeout?" Nora exclaimed sarcastically.

"Well when we get out can we get milk and cookies and watch Sesame Street?" Derek quipped back as he made his voice to sound like that of a five year old's.

"See Mom! He is impossible! Always has to be such a smart-ass!" Casey yelled to her mother in an attempt to get her mom to see her side.

"Why can't the two of you get along like your other siblings?" Nora asked the two teens in front of her. "And Casey, watch your mouth!" Nora said as an afterthought. Derek let out a chuckle when he spotted the scowl on Casey's face.

Casey looked at Derek with a disgusted look on her face then turned back to look at her mom with a raised eyebrow as if to say 'did-you-really-just-ask-me-that'. Derek simply shrugged his shoulders and put his trademark smirk on his face. Nora sighed in frustration.

"Fine. Until the two of you learn how to get along or at least tolerate each other, you both will spend your weekends doing chores or whatever else George or I ask either of you to do. Understood?"

Both the teens were outraged. Casey looked like she was about to explode any second, and Derek's jaw had just about hit the floor. The weekends were his time away from his crazy family.

"Mom! That is so not fair!" Casey yelled and stomped her foot as if that would emphasize her point better.

"Nora…uh maybe we can work something else out." Derek tried in a surprisingly calm yet shaky voice. He was using all the strength he had not to explode at Nora.

"I think Nora's idea is great." George said as he walked into the room and stood beside Nora. "In fact let's start this little experiment right now. Derek you can clean out the garage, and it better be spotless." George smirked. He knew how much Derek detested cleaning. His room was a prime example of that. Derek's eyes were as wide as saucers and were about to pop out of his head. He wasn't exactly used to George punishing him.

"And Casey." Nora started. "You can clean out the attic."

"But Mom, there are spider-webs up there! You know I hate spiders."

"Casey they won't hurt you. Now I don't want to hear anymore complaining out of either one of you." Nora said. She was met with an eye roll and a scowl.

"Fine." "Whatever." They both mumbled.

"Good, now start cleaning." George told the two. He was eager to see how all this would turn out.

Casey reluctantly made her way upstairs, and Derek started mumbling as he slowly made his way to the garage.

"I can't believe I have to spend my Saturday cleaning. This is all Casey's fault." Derek muttered.

Before Casey got to the attic, she decided to call Emily and vent. At least if she was going to have to clean, she could at least talk to her best friend. Casey got the phone and quickly dialed Emily's number. It rang about three times before she picked up.

"Hello?" Emily greeted in her usually chirpy voice.

"Hey Em. You will never guess what Derek did."

Emily sighed. It seems like the only reason Casey ever called was to complain about Derek, but Casey was her friend so it was her duty to listen. 'I guess it could be worse, she could always call to talk about how hot Derek is.' Emily thought to herself. Emily and Casey seemed to be the only two girls at school that didn't worship the ground that Derek walked on.

"What did he do now Case?"

"Ugh…he got us in trouble! What else is new? But now we have to spend every weekend doing chores until we can learn to get along." She complained. "I'm never going to be able to go out on the weekends again!"

Emily winced. Yep, that was a pretty bad punishment. Emily couldn't imagine not being able to go out on the weekends. That would seriously suck.

"Wow Case, that's like the worst punishment yet."

"I know. It's dreadful." Casey exclaimed.

Emily had to suppress a giggle. Casey could be so dramatic at times.

"What chore are you supposed to be doing?" Emily asked.

"I have to clean the attic." Casey told her friend as she rolled her eyes.

"Eww. That's gross. I bet there are a ton of bugs up there and spider-webs and oh my gosh! Casey, what if there are rats?" Emily asked in horror stricken voice.

"Not helping Em!" Casey exclaimed.

"Sorry Case."

"It's okay. So what are you doing?"

"I'm about to go sit out by the pool, and then I might go to a party tonight."

"Lucky." Casey mumbled.

"Look Case all you and Derek have to do is _pretend _to get along. At least, just around your parents, then you can have fun on the weekends. Derek is a good liar so it shouldn't be that hard." Emily told her friend.

"Thanks Em. That's actually a pretty good idea."

"What can I say? I'm a genius." Emily said causing both girls to laugh.

Nora heard Casey laughing and walked into her room.

"Casey, tell Emily you will call her back later. Now go clean the attic." Nora told her daughter.

Casey groaned. "Em, I got to go clean." Casey told her friend in fake enthusiasm. "I'll call you back later."

"Okay Case. Have fun cleaning!"

Casey snorted and hung up the phone. "Like that's going to happen." She mumbled.

Casey slowly climbed the attic stairs. 'This is so creepy.' She thought to herself. Casey finally made it to the top of the stairs. 'Now what do I do?' she thought. She decided she would start with organizing all the boxes so it wouldn't be such a huge mess. An hour had gone by, and she was barely half way done with just organizing. She hadn't even gotten to the actual cleaning part yet. She was in the middle of carrying a few boxes to one side of the room, when she dropped the bottom box and its contents scattered all over the floor.

"Crap." she mumbled under her breath.

Casey put the other boxes down in the corner, and then went to clean up the mess. As Casey approached the mess, she realized it was a pile of pictures. She looked at the box that they had fallen out of and realized it was marked _Venturi. _'Venturi pictures…this might be fun.' Casey mused as she began to flick through them. The first picture she came across was one of a young Derek. He couldn't have been more than four or five years old. He was in head to toe hockey gear and was holding a hockey stick. 'Apparently he's always been fascinated with that dumb sport.' Casey thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. She quickly moved that one to the back of the bunch as she continued to shuffle through the collection of photos in her hand. The next photo was of yet again a young Derek, but this time he was at what looked to be a birthday party. He was seated at the head of a table with a cake with a number 'five' candle stuck in the middle of it in front of him and at least a dozen kids crowding around him. He had a wide toothy grin on his face, and his head was slightly tilted back as if he were about to erupt into laughter. Casey couldn't help the small smile that slipped onto her lips. She had never seen Derek look this happy. 'It's probably just the innocence of a child.' She concluded. As she looked closer at the picture, she noticed something that she had previously looked over; the small girl sitting beside Derek, for she was who he was looking at in the photograph. She too had the same look of pure happiness and innocence in her eyes. The girl had a light chocolate colored skin and curly hair that was pulled into a bun on top of her head and was tied with a cute pink and white polka-dot ribbon. The girl was laughing, or more so giggling; the only way a little five year old girl would. Casey decided to put that picture to the side, deciding it was too cute to leave in an old dusty attic. Casey kept looking through the pictures. So far she had only gotten through a few. None of them were nearly as interesting or cute as the birthday party one. They were mostly just old school pictures, while one or two were from a Christmas years ago. 'So that's what Derek's mom looks like.' Casey thought as she came across an old holiday picture. The picture showed a maybe six or seven year old Derek and a young Edwin, obviously Marti had not been born yet. The two were seated on the living room floor in front of the Christmas tree, each with a present in hand. Their mom sat on the couch behind them with a smile on her face. 'George must have been the one taking the picture.' Casey observed. 'Their mom was quite pretty. Derek and Marti look a lot like her.' She thought.

Casey sighed as she put that picture behind the others. She was about to quit looking through them and put them back in the box. Casey was getting bored. She figured none of the other pictures were going to interest her. That is until she came across a certain picture. Once again, it was a picture of Derek. Except in this one, he was noticeably older. Derek appeared to be about eleven years old. His brown shaggy hair was practically falling in his face as he smiled widely at the camera. Casey about burst into laughter when she saw what he was wearing…power ranger pj's. Once Casey got over his chosen attire, her eyes drifted to what was behind Derek, or more so on top of him. On his back sat a young girl who appeared to be his age. She had light brown skin and curly hair about to her shoulders. She was making bunny ears behind Derek's head as she crossed her eyes, while Derek had no clue. That girl looked oddly familiar to Casey, and that's when it dawned on her. "The little girl from the birthday party." Casey said in realization. Quickly Casey grabbed the other photo and compared the girl in both. 'Same color skin, same features, and same hair.' Casey compared. 'I wonder who she is. She kind of looks familiar.' She thought.

Casey continued looking through the stack of photos in hopes of finding more pictures of the curly haired mystery girl. She was about to give up after seeing about the seventh Cub Scout picture of Edwin when she finally saw another picture of the mystery girl. There she was standing next to Derek in the middle of the road. They had on roller blades, and each had a hockey stick in their hand. The girl had on a baseball hat, but it was obvious that it was the same girl even without seeing her curly hair. Neither of the two was looking at the camera, but they both had wide smiles glued to their faces. Over to the side were a couple more guys goofing off. 'She looks to be the only girl of the group. I guess she's a tomboy.' thought Casey. The pair looked to be about twelve or so in the picture.

"I wonder if they were best friends." Casey considered.

'Well if they were, where is the girl now? Maybe she moved.' Casey mused. She was determined to figure this out.

Casey finally came to the last picture in the bunch. It was a picture of Derek and the curly haired mystery girl. Both of them were sitting in the grass. The picture wasn't posed. It actually looked to have been taken without either of the two knowing. The two appeared to be laughing, at least the girl was. She was slightly leaning into Derek's chest, and wasn't looking at anything in particular. Derek had put his arm around her shoulders, and he was looking down at her with a big smile on his face. Casey grinned. She had never seen Derek look so…caring before. They definitely looked older in this picture than they did in any of the others. Both of them looked about thirteen or fourteen.

'Who is she though?' Casey thought to herself. She was so frustrated by the fact that the girl looked so familiar.

"She kind of looks like Emily in a way." Casey said as she mentally compared the two girls. 'Nope, she can't be Emily. Emily is a straight up girly girl, and this girl is definitely a tomboy. Not to mention the fact that Emily and Derek rarely talk unless it's to ask Emily if she can baby-sit Marti.' Casey thought. After racking her brain for a couple of minutes on who the girl might just be, she decided the only way she would find out would be to ask Derek, and that's what she decided to do. Plus, she really wanted to get out of the creepy attic at least for a little while. Casey quickly skipped down the attic stairs with the pictures in hand. 'When have I ever been this anxious to find Derek when I wasn't mad?' Casey asked herself amused. She found herself standing outside Derek's door. She could hear his loud music through the door.

"It sure didn't take him long to clean." Casey muttered as she rolled her eyes.

Casey proceeded to knock on his door. Of course he didn't answer. It would have been a miracle if he had even heard the knock over his loud music. Casey decided she wasn't going to spend all day banging on his door and opened the door. Derek was lying on his bed looking through a magazine. He didn't even notice Casey come into his room. Casey walked over to his stereo and turned down the volume, which caused Derek to jump. Once he saw that it was Casey, he threw down his magazine and fixed her with an annoyed glare.

"Ever heard of knocking?" He barked.

"I did you moron. Your music was up too loud." She bit back.

"What do you want?" he asked even though frankly he didn't much care. He just wanted her out of his room.

Casey rolled her eyes. "My my, someone needs to work on their social skills." She replied sarcastically. She began to walk towards him. Derek just looked at her with a blank stare. Casey then shoved the picture of him and the mystery girl sitting in the grass in front of his face. "Who's the girl?" She asked. When he caught sight of the picture, his eyes flashed with different emotions; first shock, and then what appeared to be either regret or hurt, and lastly anger.

"Where the hell did you get this?" he growled.

Casey was slightly taken back by his tone. Not that she hadn't heard it before, but she honestly didn't think the picture would upset him.

"I uh found it in the attic. I found these too." She told him as she gave him the others. "I dropped a box, and they fell out." Casey was confused. Derek looked really pissed. 'They are just pictures.' She thought.

"Don't you know how to mind your own damn business?" He yelled at her.

"Excuse me?" She asked. Casey was starting to get pissed at his attitude.

"You had no right to look through these!" He once again yelled at her.

"Chill Derek. They fell out of the fuckin' box. I went to pick them up, but some of them caught my eye. No need to shit a brick. They are just pictures." Casey yelled at Derek just as loud as he had yelled at her. She was deeply annoyed with the way he constantly talked to her.

"They are just pictures that you had no right to look at." His voice was softer than it had been, but anger was still evident in his voice.

"Oh please Derek. What was I supposed to do? Cover my eyes as I put them back?" Sarcasm thick in her voice.

"So who's the girl?" she tried once again.

"None of your business." He told her in a relatively calm voice hoping she would back off.

"Come on Derek. What's the big deal? Why can't you just tell me who she is?" she wasn't giving up. She looked at Derek. He was looking through the pictures. A small pained smile appeared on his face. Casey saw the sadness in his eyes and decided not to push the subject anymore. She was about to walk out when he started talking.

"She was my best friend." He told her quietly, never once looking up from the pictures.

"What happened? Did she move or something?" She asked as she sat down beside him on his bed.

Derek slowly shook his head.

"We had a fight." He told her. A look of regret washed over his face.

"Over what?" she pushed.

Derek's head snapped up, and that was the first time since his yelling outburst that he had looked at her. He seemed to be having an inner battle in his mind over whether to tell her or not. Derek finally caved. He knew that she would just keep pushing until he told her.

"We met each other when we were four." He began. His voice didn't sound like his own; it was quiet and low. "I met her at the park. It turns out our moms used to be friends a long time ago, and they stopped to catch up. That left me and her to play. We actually didn't even get along at first." He smirked. Casey rolled her eyes. 'Go figure.' She thought. "She wanted to play catch with this ball I had, but I told her that we couldn't play that because girls couldn't play catch, so she punched me." He laughed and Casey joined in. 'I'm glad someone put him in his place.' Casey thought. "To avoid getting hit anymore, I let her play. I think I liked her before she liked me. She was a very stubborn kid. She didn't let my 'girls can't play catch' comment slide for a while actually. I found myself going over to her house a lot. Ever since that day at the park, our moms had practically been attached at the hip. I know we were just four, but I remember so much. My mom and I would arrive at their house. My mom would send me upstairs to play with her while they would have 'adult talk' in the kitchen." Derek rolled his eyes. Parents always used that line to get rid of kids.

At that last sentence, Casey noticed that he hadn't mentioned the girl's name or her mother's. He actually seemed to be avoiding having to say it. Casey found it weird, but decided to just ask him what her name was later, if it didn't slip out eventually.

"Anyways, I remember one day I walked upstairs to her bedroom and was about to knock on the door when I heard a small sniffle. I was a very nosy kid, at least that's what Dad always told me, so I had to know what was going on." 'This is true.' Thought Casey. "Without knocking, I just barged into her room. She was sitting on the floor in the middle of the room with her knees pulled up to her chest and her head down. I knew she was crying. When she heard me enter her room, her head snapped up, and she glared at me. For a four year old, she was pretty intimidating." Derek softly chuckled, and Casey threw in a light giggle of her own. "She asked me what I was doing in her room, and I told her that my mom sent me up here to play with her while they talked about boring stuff down stairs. She slightly nodded and her hard glare gave up a little, but she still looked pissed at me. I knew she didn't like me, but for some reason I couldn't help but like her. I then asked her what was wrong, and she told me it was none of my beeswax and turned her head so I couldn't see her face. I then told her that she was a liar and that whenever I lied that I got in trouble and I thought she should too."

"No wonder she didn't like you." Casey started. "You sound like the most annoying kid ever." She laughed.

"Hey! I was four! Aren't all four year olds annoying?" Derek defended.

"Whatever. Anyways, back to your story." Casey said.

"Ok so after I told her she was a liar, she uh kicked me."

Casey burst out laughing.

"Ha ha! That kid was abusive, but you deserved it."

Derek simply shrugged and continued his story.

"Anyways, even after she kicked me, I wouldn't leave her alone. I just kept bugging her about why she was crying until she finally gave in. She told me that some kid at the park made fun of her curly hair. That he walked up to her and started pulling on her curls and making 'boing!' noises. She told me that she told the kid to stop but he wouldn't."

"Why didn't she just kick or punch the kid like she did with you?" Casey asked.

"I asked her, and she told me the kid was an ugly tubby third grader. She said he was too big and she was scared of him."

Casey nodded. When she was little, sometimes she was made fun of for different things. It was never a good feeling.

"I really wanted to cheer her up because she looked so sad. Plus, sad friends aren't fun to play with. So I told her that I liked her curly hair, and that next time I saw the kid, I would beat him up for her. I expected her to tell me that she didn't need my help, but instead she jumped into my lap and hugged me."

"Aww little Derek has a heart!" Casey teased in a baby voice.

"Shut up." He mumbled.

Casey playfully swatted his arm as her laughter died down. "Derek I think it's cute. That was actually very nice of you."

"Whatever." He grumbled. This was a side of Derek that Casey had never seen before, except around Marti.

"So…then what happened?" Casey prodded.

Derek sighed. "So then she told me that from now on we were going to be the bestest friends, and we were. We always hung out at each other's houses. She wasn't the kind of girl that was into dolls. She liked sports just like me. We always had each other's backs. She was there for me when my mom left." Derek's voice got quiet. Casey knew that the subject of his mom was a touchy one, so she just sat their silently waiting for him to go on. "No one else could get me to talk about it except her. Dad was going to make me talk to a shrink." He growled. "I told him I wasn't going to talk to some stranger. I stormed out of the house and went over to hers. I went straight up to her room. She was sitting on the bed listening to music. I went over and sat beside her. She didn't ask me any questions like everyone else. She just let me sit there with her. I started crying like a little baby on her shoulder. She just sat there and told me that everything would be okay eventually. She was the only person I believed." Derek spoke all of this like he was in some sort of trance. 'Why is he telling me all this?' Casey thought.

Derek knew that Casey was probably wondering was he was telling her. He saw the confusion etched on her face. It was like he just started talking and he couldn't stop. It felt good though.

"She seems like a good friend." Casey softly commented.

"She was." Derek said in a low voice as he looked down. Casey looked at him and saw regret and sadness in his eyes. She also noticed that he said _was_ instead of _is_.

"So what happened?" Casey asked carefully, trying not to anger him.

"I fucked up." He growled.

Casey glanced at Derek. He was staring off into space. 'I wonder if he's remembering the fight.' She thought to herself. Turns out that's exactly what was going on.

_**Flashback**_

"_Hey Derek!" A young girl with slightly messy curly hair chirped at her long time best friend as she approached him._

"_Hey Em." He greeted back with a smile. _

_The two were on their way to school. They both were in 8__th__ grade and attended the same middle school. They always walked to school together. It was just their thing. Derek would walk next door to her house and sit on the porch and wait for her to come out. Then they would start the ten minute walk to school. 8__th__ grade was half-way over. Next year they would be in 9__th__ grade and at a new school. They promised each other that high school wouldn't change them, and they would always remain best friends no matter what. _

"_I am so glad today is Friday. This has been the longest week ever." Emily groaned. _

_Derek chuckled. "I know. What are your plans for the weekend?" He asked._

"_Umm…I don't know. What do you want to do?" _

_They just about always spent their weekends together. _

"_I don't know. Let's go to the movies tonight. There's supposed to be some good stuff playing." He told her. _

_She thought it over and nodded her head. _

"_So did you do your math homework?" Emily asked him. _

_He scoffed and shook his head. "Emily this is me you are talking to. Do you honestly think me of all people did their homework?"_

_Emily laughed and shook her head. "What on earth was I thinking? Excuse me; I plead temporary loss of insanity. And the reason I was asking my dear friend was because I was wondering if I could copy, but it seems that I will have to find someone else's work to use." She let out a dramatic sigh._

"_Not doing your homework either I see? It seems as if I am rubbing off on you." He teased. _

"_Oh please." She laughed. "We are two of a kind, always have been." _

_The rest of the walk to school was filled with mindless chatter. Once they got to school, they headed their separate ways. They each had a different homeroom teacher. Derek nodded to a few of his friends on his way to class, and smiled at a few girls he found attractive. Derek wasn't exactly what you would call a stud, although he was somewhat well-known in his class. Sure he was attractive and had a good personality, but most of the time he just wasn't interested in the girls in his grade. Of course there were girls that he found hot; he just never really pursued any of them. It had always just been him and Emily, and that's what he was used to. _

_Derek made it to his homeroom and sat down in his regular seat. He had Mr. Carlisle for a homeroom teacher. He was the most chill teacher in the school. He also taught 8__th__ grade English. Homeroom was just a free 15 minutes. All Mr. Carlisle did was take roll and then go sit back at his desk and play computer games while the announcements came over the loud speaker. He didn't care if the kids listened or not. Derek decided to start some of his homework that he had failed to do last night. He was really close to failing science, and he knew not doing his homework wasn't helping. He wasn't looking forward to the grounding he would most definitely get if he came home with an F on his report card. Derek was in the middle of trying to figure out one of the assigned questions when he felt a tap on his shoulder. Derek turned around and came face to face with a grinning Macy Carmichael. Macy was one of the most popular girls in their grade. 'What could she possibly want with me?' Derek thought to himself. _

"_Hey Derek." She said as she smacked on her pink bubble gum and twirled her long blonde wavy hair around her finger. Macy was quite a pretty girl. She had long golden blonde hair that reached to her mid-back. Derek didn't know if it was naturally curly or straight. She seemed to wear it differently every day. She had fierce green eyes with flecks of gold in them. Derek always thought she was really attractive, but they were never friends. In fact, they never really talked mainly because they were in different groups. _

"_Hey Macy." He smiled. _

"_What are you doing tonight?" she asked. _

_Derek was kind of caught off guard by the question. He thought she was just going to ask to borrow a pencil or something. _

"_Oh…uh nothing." Derek stammered out. _

"_Great." She replied. Derek was slightly confused by her comment until he heard her continue. "You wanna hang out tonight?" she asked. 'She almost looks nervous.' Thought Derek. 'Does she like me? Nah.' _

"_Sure sounds fun." He replied quickly. "What do you want to do?"_

"_Well I was thinking maybe we could go to the movies?" It came out as more of a question. _

"_Yeah, that sounds like fun. I think I heard that there is some pretty good stuff playing." _

_Macy smiled widely. "Ok cool. You want me just to call you later to work out the time and stuff?" she asked. _

"_Yeah that's cool. Here's my number." Derek told her as he slipped her a piece of paper with his number on it. Just then the bell rang signaling the students to go to first period. _

"_See you later Derek." Macy said as she walked out of the room. _

_Derek couldn't keep the grin off his face as he walked to first period until he remembered an earlier conversation he had that morning. _

"_Shit." He cursed quietly. "Emily." He mumbled. 'What am I going to do?' he thought to himself. _

_Derek went the rest of the day trying to figure out a solution to his dilemma. He really wanted to go out with Macy but he had already made plans with Emily. He couldn't just cancel with Emily…or could he? 'Our plans weren't etched in stone. But how am I going to tell her I can't hang out with her? She'll want to know why. Ugh!' Derek decided the only way was to lie to Emily. He knew it was wrong, but it was just this once. 'She'll never find out, and I don't want to hurt her feelings.' The dismissal bell cut off his thoughts. The day was finally over. He couldn't wait for tonight. He hurried to Emily's locker so they could walk home together. _

"_Hey Em." He said as he approached her. _

"_Hey Derek. You ready?" She asked. _

"_Yeah, let's go." He said as they linked arms and walked out of the building. _

"_So about tonight, what movie do you want to see?" Emily asked once they got outside._

_Derek tensed and Emily noticed. _

"_Oh umm, how about I just call you about it later?" he asked her._

_Emily looked at him weird for a second and then nodded._

"_Sure." She said. "Are you okay? You're acting kinda funky." She told him. He could see the faint worry in her eyes and that made his guilt grow. _

"_Yeah I'm fine. It's just been a long day." _

_Emily seemed to buy his excuse, and suddenly any tension that had been between the two was now gone and they just talked about different things that had happened that day. Derek and Emily reached their street about ten minutes later._

"_Just call me later." Emily said to Derek as she walked towards her front door. _

"_Kay I will." Derek said as he walked towards his own house. "Bye Em!" he shouted._

"_Bye Derek!" _

_An hour or so passed and Derek was sitting in his room staring at the phone. He knew he had to call Emily and break their plans if he wanted to go out with Macy tonight. He just had to work up the courage to lie to his best friend. Derek finally picked up the phone and dialed her number. It ringed a couple of times before she picked up. _

"_Hello?" _

"_Hey Em." _

"_Oh hey Derek. You decided what time you want to go tonight?" She asked. _

"_Yeah about that." Derek started quietly. "I can't go. Dad wants to have some sort of family night or something like that." He told her. "I'm sorry." _

_He heard Emily let out a sigh and he knew it was out of disappointment. _

"_That's okay Derek. I guess I could hang out with my parental units tonight as well." She told him with a chuckle. She had expected Derek to laugh as well, but he had just sat there. 'He's acting weird.' Emily thought. They both sat their in silence for a moment. Derek was trying to get over his guilt and Emily was trying to figure out why he was acting so strange._

"_Okay, well have fun with the fam tonight." Emily said jokingly. _

"_I'll do my best." Derek said with a small laugh of his own. _

"_Alright well I'll just talk to you later." She told him._

"_Okay. Bye Em." _

"_Bye." Derek said as he hung up._

"_That is by far the weirdest tensest conversation I have ever had with Derek." Emily muttered. _

_After her conversation with Derek, Emily went downstairs to see if her parents maybe wanted to see a movie tonight since Derek bailed. Her mom was thrilled. It wasn't very often that they did anything as a family, and it was never Emily's idea. They decided to go out to eat and then go to the theater. Dinner was good but Emily couldn't get over how weird Derek had been. She thought about it during most of dinner. Her mom even had to snap her out of her thoughts a couple times. _

"_You okay honey?" Her mother asked. _

"_Oh yeah Mom, I'm fine." Emily said rather convincingly. _

_Her mom nodded and went back to her meal. They finished their dinner, and then headed across the street to the movies. They decided to see a comedy. Emily only watched horror movies with Derek and she wasn't really into those sappy love movies. _

_The movie was hilarious and she actually had a good time with her parents. 'Who would of thought?' she mused. Her night would have continued going well if it wasn't for the sight she saw as she walked out of the theater. Right in front of her stood Derek and some blonde girl swapping spit. So many questions were running through her mind. 'I thought he had to hang out with his family tonight. Who is she? Did he blow me off for her? No Derek wouldn't do that…would he? I thought he was supposed to be my best friend.' _

_Emily was mad as hell. Not to mention confused and hurt. She calmly walked up to Derek and tapped him on the shoulder. He didn't respond. He was too busy sucking face with the blonde. This only angered Emily further. She then hit him upside the head to get his attention, and this time it worked. He quickly pulled his tongue out of the girl's mouth and put a hand to his head._

"_What the hell?!" he nearly yelled as he spun around and came face to face with an enraged Emily. "Emily!" he said in shock. Soon that shocked look on his face turned to one of guilt. "I…uh." He nervously stuttered. _

"_Save it Derek!" Emily snapped. _

"_Emily, I am really sorry." Derek told her. He seemed to genuinely mean it._

"_Sorry for what Derek? Huh? Sorry for lying to me? Sorry for blowing me off? What are you sorry for Derek?" She angrily shouted at him._

"_All of it." He said quietly as he lowered his head in shame._

"_I can't believe you." She said just as quiet in a sad and disappointed voice. _

"_Emily, please…" Derek trailed off as he begged for forgiveness._

"_Leave me alone Derek." Emily said. She didn't sound angry, just incredibly sad. _

_Derek let out a heavy sigh as he watched her walk off. He turned back around to Macy. He honestly forgot she had been standing there. She had a confused look on her face. _

"_Umm…did I cause some sort of problem?" she asked warily._

_Derek slowly shook his head. _

"_No you didn't. Don't worry about it. I had a really good time with you tonight. I'm sorry, but I really have to go." _

_Macy nodded her head in understanding._

"_That's fine Derek, and I had a good time too. I'll see you Monday." She said as she walked off. _

_Derek quickly made his way home. He practically ran to the Davis's door. Her parents weren't home. They rarely were though; they were always rather busy. After they got home from the movies, they had to head back out on some work related thing. Derek didn't even bother knocking on the door. He always just walked right in. Plus, he really didn't think if he actually did knock that Emily would let him in. Derek walked into the empty house and headed straight up the stairs to Emily's room. Her door was closed, but he didn't bother to knock on that one either. Derek saw her sitting on her bed with her knees pulled to her chest and her head down, just like all those years ago when he found her crying in her room. She looked up when she heard the door open. _

"_What do you want?" She seethed. _

"_Emily you have to believe me! I am really sorry." _

"_Why didn't you just tell me Derek?" _

"_I didn't want you to think that I wanted to hang out with some other girl more than I wanted to hang out with you." He explained._

"_But that's the truth isn't it? I mean you did break plans with me to hang out with her!" she screamed at him. _

"_Damn it Emily! I'm trying to apologize here."_

"_Well you're not doing a good job at it! Plus a simple 'I'm sorry' doesn't fix what you did. You still ditched me for someone else." _

"_Emily I didn't mean to hurt you! That's why I lied to you in the first place."_

_Emily scoffed and shook her head. _

"_Best friends don't lie to each other Derek!" she exclaimed. "Is this going to be a regular thing? Are you going to ditch me when we have plans anytime some bimbo comes along?"_

"_Macy is not a bimbo Emily. I actually like her." _

"_That's great Derek, whatever." Emily said tiredly. _

"_Gosh Emily, please contain your enthusiasm!" Derek said sarcastically._

_Emily rolled her eyes and glared at him. _

"_You know what Emily. I'm not going to apologize anymore! I had a really great time tonight, and I don't regret it!" Derek screamed at her. _

_Emily looked at Derek as tears welled up in her eyes._

"_That's real rich Derek! I don't care that you like some girl. Don't you get it? You lied to me! And now you would rather hang out with Macy than hang out with your best friend!" _

"_Emily you can't expect me to just hang out with you! If I didn't know any better, I would say you were jealous! Is that it Emily? Are you jealous? Do you have some school girl crush on me or something?" Derek yelled. _

"_Shut up!" She screamed at him. "I do not have some stupid crush on you! At this moment I actually hate you! And what the hell is there for me to be jealous of?"_

"_Of course you don't have a crush on me because Emily doesn't like boys. Boys still have cooties according to you!" _

"_Real mature Derek." _

"_You need to grow up Emily and see that I am going to move on from you! You are my __**childhood**__ best friend. If I want to hang out with a girl instead of you, it's none of your business. And you __**are**__ jealous because I actually have someone interested in me, and you have no one! And you know what? You will never have anyone because all you do is act like a boy! Plus, you never leave me alone. It's like you're attached to my fucking hip! No guy is going to want you because of the way you are. You dress and act like a guy! So do me a favor Em and grow up and stay out of my business!" Derek yelled at her out of breath._

_By now, Emily had tears streaming down her cheeks, and a look of disbelief and hurt on her face. Derek looked at her and instantly regretted everything he had just said. He didn't mean any of it. He was just so mad at himself for doing what he did, at Emily for not wanting to forgive him, and for the whole situation._

"_God Emily, I'm so sorry-_

"_Don't" Emily cut him off. _

"_I seriously didn't mean it Emily!" Derek felt the sting of tears in his own eyes. He couldn't believe that he had just hurt his best friend so badly. _

"_Really? 'Cause it sounded like you did." She told him quietly. "I'm sorry that I am such a bother to you. I'm sorry that I am so unappealing and undesirable. I'm sorry for just trying to be your best friend!" Her voice rose at each sentence. _

"_Emily…" Derek didn't know what to say. He had really hurt her, and he didn't know how to make it any better. _

"_Well now that you no longer have an annoying tomboy following you around everywhere, you can go on with your life." She told him in a surprisingly calm voice, but her words practically dripped with sarcasm. _

"_I didn't mean it Em. I'm sorry! I really am." He couldn't hold in his tears anymore, and he let them flow freely down his cheeks. "Em, we were supposed to be best friends forever." He pleaded with her. He realized that he was losing his best friend._

"_Derek, you told me to grow up, and that's what I am doing. I get it. You don't want me around anymore. After all, I am just your __**childhood**__ best friend. We are growing up, and we should find other friends." She told him in a hoarse voice. _

"_No! Emily you don't mean that. You can't-_

"_I do. Just leave Derek. Please?" she asked him quietly. She was barely holding herself together. If he didn't leave soon, she just knew that she would collapse into a heap of body wracking sobs. _

_Derek slowly nodded and turned around and headed for the door. Emily walked slowly behind him so she could close the door after he left. Derek abruptly stopped and turned back around. He stared into Emily's eyes. Their faces mirrored the others. Both red and tear stained. _

"_Emily I know that I hurt you bad. I promise you that I didn't mean any of it. I know that you don't want to be friends with me anymore and I don't blame you, but just remember that if you ever need anything you can come to me." he told her quietly as more tears spilled out of both their eyes. For a moment Emily just stared blankly at him. Then ever so lightly she nodded her head. Derek then turned back around and headed for the door. Right before he walked out into the hallway, he heard Emily whisper._

"_Was it worth it Derek?" _

_Before he could answer her, the door closed. _

_**End of Flashback**_

Derek and Casey had been sitting on the bed for about five minutes in silence.

"Derek?" Casey asked quietly. "Listen you don't have to tell me if you don't want to." She told him. She really didn't know that Derek would react like this. She regretted ever asking who the girl was.

Derek was brought out of his memory by Casey's voice.

"Uh…what did you say? He asked, even though he still appeared to be kind of out of it.

"I said you don't have to tell me about it if you don't want to." Casey repeated.

"No it's ok." He said lowly. "She and I had made plans one weekend. I lied to her and blew her off to go on a date with this other girl. She found out. We got in a fight and I said some really bad things to her; stuff that I didn't even mean. The fight was so bad, that it ended our friendship." Derek finished as he looked down. He didn't want to look Casey in the eye. He knew it was all his fault and he regretted everything he said to Emily that night.

"Wow." Casey mumbled.

"Yeah." Derek said.

"Have you talked to her since?" Casey asked quietly. She didn't want him to think that she was prying into his business.

Before Derek could answer Nora appeared in the doorway.

"Wow I can't believe it. You two are actually in the same room, and you aren't biting each other's heads off. I guess my punishment actually worked." Nora said pretty proud of yourself.

Both teens just sat there with a weak smile as they nodded their heads.

"Well clean up, dinner will be ready soon." She told them as she walked back downstairs.

"Well I better go wash up for dinner." Casey told Derek as she stood up. "And I'm sorry for pushing you to tell me about her."

"Don't worry about it." He told her.

Once Casey left the room, Derek walked over to his window that overlooked the neighbor's back yard. He saw Emily lying out by the pool.

Casey was still thinking about everything that Derek had just told her as she reached her room. 'I forgot to ask her name!' Casey thought all of a sudden. She turned around and headed back to Derek's room. 'One more question couldn't hurt.' As she walked into Derek's bedroom she saw him looking out his window. Then all of a sudden she heard his voice.

"I miss you Emily."

Casey's eyes widened shock. 'No, it can't be. Emily was his best friend?!'

Casey quickly turned around and practically ran back to her room.

"This has been quite a day." She mumbled as she plopped down on her bed.

**A/N: I hope you enjoyed reading it and I hope you review! **


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